The photolithography equipment market is forecast to grow to $47.5B in 2031, driven by shrinking process nodes, AI and data center demand, advanced packaging, and CHIPS Act and similar subsidies, according to Mordor Intelligence. This growth primarily represents traditional photolithography system sales, including extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). Traditional advanced lithography systems are designed to support high-volume manufacturing at advanced nodes. These systems cannot feasibly manufacture mixed-volume or prototyping runs due to the need for photomasks, which add time, cost and complexity to the manufacturing process.
Our team has taken a different approach, modifying and enhancing traditional multiple electron beam (eBeam) direct-write lithography systems to achieve the only fully functional hyper-beam array (HBA) lithography system, thereby bolstering microelectronics innovation and manufacturing in the United States.
What Is Multibeam Lithography?
To understand HBA lithography, we must first understand traditional single electron beam lithography. Single electron beam lithography is a high-resolution, maskless, direct-write technique that scans a focused electron beam to create patterns on an electron-sensitive resist on a substrate. It is highly flexible for prototyping and nanofabrication, offering sub-10 nm resolution, but has low throughput compared to parallel techniques.
Due to the serial “point-by-point” writing nature, it is slow and not suitable for mass production of large, complex chips. Single beam systems are also considered to be expensive, mainly due to the time-intensive nature of the exposure process.
Traditional multibeam patterning, on the other hand, is a high-resolution nanofabrication technique that uses an array of independently controlled electron beams to pattern materials without photomasks. Writing features in parallel rather than with a single beam increases throughput and patterning speed while maintaining nanometer-scale precision.
Most current generation multibeam lithography systems pattern with nine to 25 columns or beams. Despite their flexibility, they have struggled to enter mass production because they cannot pattern quickly enough to meet productivity requirements.
From Multibeam to HBA Lithography Technology
In late 2018, the Dutch company Mapper faced bankruptcy despite investing $480 million in developing revolutionary electron-beam lithography technology. Mapper had created a groundbreaking alternative to traditional photolithography, using advanced multibeam direct-write technology to write chip designs directly onto wafer surfaces without photomasks — essentially enabling high-volume “3D printing” of microchips.
At the same time, growing concerns about supply chain security and vast portfolios of unused intellectual property in research centers presented an extraordinary opportunity for multibeam lithography to address. It had the potential to eliminate the prohibitively high costs and extended lead times associated with traditional lithography while also democratizing access for prototyping or mixed-volume production runs that aren’t well-suited to large fabs and foundries.
Recognizing that multibeam technology could fill these critical needs, we acquired and domesticated Mapper’s assets and sole remaining multibeam lithography tool. Since then, we’ve pursued an intensive development campaign to transform Mapper’s original system into a robust, production-ready manufacturing platform. Where the original technology was intended for high-volume manufacturing, we recognized its true potential lay in solving the fundamental challenges of microelectronic commercialization through rapid prototyping and flexible-volume production.
Our work has resulted in the launch of the world’s leading multibeam technology, HBA lithography, as a homegrown U.S. technology. Our state-of-the-art system, leveraging 65,000 parallel electron beams — the most advanced commercially available — writes ultra-fine patterns and nanostructures onto wafers with precision comparable to photolithography, but at a fraction of the cost and time. The tool allows us to address the unmet demand from the university and research markets, offering premium, cost-effective services with flexible-volume manufacturing to accelerate the development of innovative chip designs.
HBA Lithography: Breakthrough Technological Advantages
Traditional photolithography requires numerous complex photomasks, expensive light sources, sophisticated equipment and stringent process controls, all optimized exclusively for high-volume production. Our HBA lithography tool fundamentally transforms this paradigm.
- Massive Parallel Processing: Deploys up to 65,000 parallel electron beams simultaneously
- Ultra-Precision Manufacturing: Achieves 22nm resolution and finer geometries
- Maskless Lithography Innovation: Eliminates costly photomask dependencies
- Dynamic Design Flexibility: Patterns multiple, varied designs on single wafers
- Accelerated Development Cycles: Dramatically reduces both patterning time and associated costs
- Flexible-Volume Manufacturing: Empowers a broader range of customers to innovate and thrive in chip manufacturing for low- to medium-volume needs
- Larger Field Exposure: Not limited to traditional field sizes (33x26mm) but can expose larger fields
These advancements make multibeam lithography, as performed by HBA systems, a viable choice for industrial-scale applications. HBA lithography provides sophisticated nanofabrication without the need for masks. It delivers high-end, premium patterning at a lower cost of ownership, with reduced production time, and with flexibility for smaller volumes and multiple design variants for chip manufacturing. This approach opens the door to innovation and will help spawn a new era in technology innovation.
Unlike traditional high-volume facilities constrained by economic minimums, HBA serves research institutions, universities and smaller organizations without volume restrictions — democratizing access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Our proven reliability has earned us a partnership with the U.S. military to meet its critical needs.
Reaching New Heights for U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing
We are driving technology innovation in the United States by providing cost-effective access to flexible-volume manufacturing and fostering a new era of U.S. technological leadership with our HBA lithography technology. By combining unprecedented manufacturing flexibility with comprehensive die-level traceability, we equip partners with the advanced tools necessary to drive innovation while securing the semiconductor supply chain for both national security and economic competitiveness.
Get in touch with our team to learn more at info@securefoundry.com.